Detained
by Truly Anonymous Twi Contest
Summary: Jasper has a short wait for help to arrive, but can he escape prison without committing a crime worse than the one he's held for? AU Jasper


**Entry #30 - AU**

**Truly Anonymous Twilight O/S PP Contest**

**Pen Name(s): **

**Twitter or Facebook: **

**Title: Detained**

**Picture Prompt Number: 6**

**Pairing: Jasper**

**Rating: PG**

**Word Count (minus A/N and Header): 892**

**Summary (250 characters or less, including spaces and punctuation): Jasper has a short wait for help to arrive, but can he escape prison without committing a crime worse than the one he's held for?**

**Warnings and Disclaimer: Smoking. Don't do it. Even Jasper doesn't like it. Also, Jasper and other characters belong to SM (but you knew that).**

Smoking did nothing for me. Technically, I didn't even have to breathe. In fact, I was breathing as little as possible. So why was I inhaling tar with a side of nicotine? To mask the other smells.

It wasn't working.

Closing my eyes, I pulled the smoke though my nose and into my lungs, blind to the wino slumped across from me, deaf to the shouting across the room. Alice told me I could do this. She and Edward were coming to get me. I didn't have to hold on long.

The unmistakable thud of a fist hitting flesh opened my eyes. Please, let there be no blood. The cigarette would not cover that. If anyone started bleeding, I'd kill every person in this room, starting with my cellmate.

"Hey! You two! Separate, now!" The cop banged on the bars of one of the cells and the quiet scuffle was aborted. It probably helped that I was exuding the calm I desperately sought. Maybe if I made everyone else feel it they could reflect it to me.

It wasn't working.

The drunk snorted and bolted upright. "Wha? Where am I?"

The calm took him immediately; he was so close to me—the source, and he lay back down, snoring in moments. His head thumped on the hard bench and I could smell it bruise. I could smell the blood just under his skin, smell the beer on his breath, in his pores. He smelled of smoke, too, and I tried to cling to that aroma, ignoring the others. With my cigarette dangling from my mouth, I rubbed my hands on my pants. I rose and stuck them through the bars, leaning on them and focusing on breathing evenly, on being calm.

The cop on duty yawned widely. I snickered along with a few of the others peering out through bars.

"Rookie going to crash on the job?" someone asked.

Rookie. That was me. I was the rookie vampire, the rookie vegetarian. This was my big night. Why couldn't Alice have warned me? I wouldn't have been anywhere near that park. I wouldn't have been in the state.

"_You'll be fine, Jasper. Just hold onto me," _Alice had said, but she wasn't here to hold. All I had was this stupid smoking stick. I squished it between my fingers, squashing the ember and nearly rendering the result to dust. I dropped it and fished for the pack. It had belonged to the drunk. They were lying on the floor under his bench when the cops shoved me in here. Diving for them, I recognized what was probably my only hope of lasting without being discovered. They were one of the few things that kept me from killing everyone here.

"So, what are you in for?" one of the thugs across the room asked. His voice was gruff, but his tone was cool, easy. The calm was working on him. The Rookie didn't move from his spot.

"I was the last person seen with a girl before she disappeared," I replied honestly. "They seem to think I had something to do with it."

The jerk with greasy black hair nodded. "Yeah. I was the last person seen with this car that wasn't mine." He laughed suddenly and the man's amusement rubbed off on me, making me smile. "My gal's coming to bail me out. You?"

I nodded. "Same. Hope she doesn't take too much longer."

"What? You don't like the accommodations?" He guffawed again and I laughed with him.

"It's not the room so much as the company," I admitted.

The man's eyes narrowed and I felt anger flare from him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey, keep it down," the Rookie complained, kicking the bars of the other man's cell.

I exuded calm again. "Just that I'd rather be with my girl."

He chuckled. "Yeah, me too, pal, me too." I turned the calm up a little more and he yawned, sitting back on his bench. More snores were joining those of the drunk beside me. Maybe if I put them all to sleep, this would be easier.

I didn't have time to find out. The lights went out and I kicked my cell door out, the lock snapping in a jarring clang of metal on metal. Despite the dark, I could see Alice clearly as she burst down the stairs into the holding area. I ran to her, nearly knocking her over to hug her tiny frame against mine.

"Let's go. Out the back," she whispered so quickly no one would have understood her if they could hear. I followed, and we were met by Edward in the alley. As soon as we were together we started running.

"That's it. The only record they have of Jasper Cullen is in their memories. That won't get them far."

"So, we run?" I verified. I meant from the city, not through it.

Alice nodded. "The others will meet us in Montreal. I knew you could do it," she cheered, jumping into my arms to kiss me. "You are stronger than you realize."

I skidded to a stop and crushed her to me, inhaling her to replace the awful smoke with the apple-pear smell that was Alice, my mate, the one who had found and saved me. I wouldn't let anything separate me from her again.


End file.
